Weekly News from the Director of Camp Internet.

Stardust Essay Contest - Due March 27, 2006

Win an IO digital pen for you and your class. We have been using the IO digital pen at the Camp Headquarters and have found it really helps take notes in an entirely new way. And, for shared class projects, it is a way for a multiple of students to enter in ideas, drawings and charts and have it all download to your computer.

Two IO Pens will be awarded. One for the best Middle School or High School essay and one for the best Elementary School essay.

The Essay is to be about the NASA Startdust Project.

One of the rarest of events in Science has happened. Something entirely new, never studied or seen before, has been discovererd and brought back to the lab for study.

The NASA Startdust Project has returned samples of Cosmic materials and stardust for Scientists to learn from. Will they discover a new medicine? Will they discover some new evidence as to the origin of our Solar System?

Begin your study by going to the NASA Stardust web site at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stardust/main/index.html

Then develop your ideas. Work as teams and prepare a great essay with images and information.

Essay is to be 5 pages. Charts and maps may be added to the essay along with the 5 main pages.

For younger students the essay may be a picture book with drawings, photos and maps.

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We are now able to offer our Camp Internet Classrooms and families local, high speed Internet access through a new National Network of over 2,300 phone numbers.

If you are within one of our new line areas try out Camp Internet as your Internet Source.

Special for Camp subscribers, $10 month for a 1 year subscription.

Our new National Network includes Accellerator and spam blocking on all new accounts.

If you are interested in trying our new Public Internet Network go to http://www.rain.org/services and enter to phone number in the search tool to see if one of our new lines is in your area. If you find a match you can request an accout from that same web site and we will have you online right away.

There is a new bill pending in the California State Assembly which has to do with violence in games. The issue of computer, console and online games is an important one for every educator. Many of our students play on a Nintendo, Xbox or Playstation everyday. The impact of games which feature overt violence on young people is serious.

Camp Internet has a new course called "Peaceful Gaming Ideas". The PGI web. It is a new and developing online class where you will be able to have your students study the history and development of video games.

The course is designed to provide options for students who would rather not get involved in violent video gaming. Many peaceful and educational games, on all the various platforms, are explored.

The PGI course will be a way to get your students writing and talking about video gaming. PGI provides an excellent addition to your current social studies, science or arts class.

If you have not had the chance recently, take a moment to visit the new American History web and the new Homeschool web.

Both class webs can be accessed from the main Camp Internet menu at http://www.campinternet.net

Camp Internet's ESL web continues to grow. Tools and Lesson Plans are online now. Goto : http://www.rain.org/esl

As winter weather continues we explore the Meteorology studies unit. Students have been gathering rain, wind and temperature records and sending the data in to be included in Camp Internet's GIS Weather mapping project. In the course of doing the weather information gathering students learn to record, organize and create a spreadsheet of data they gather doing real life Meteorology.

Goto: http://www.rain.org/campinternet/meteorology/

Have you had any special reports or discussions in class about Camp Internet subjects? If so send a note over and let us know. Send a note over to us here

Go this way for the full Web Quest set of quiz and essay exams for this week

As we move into 2006 our American History will focus on Civics.

Go to the new American History Civics course at: http://www.rain.org/campinternet/american-history/civics

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Ocean Studies Class
New Ocean Studies class with special video units. Check the interview with Dr. Childress, UCSB and the deep ocean worms he has brought back.

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Homeschool Campus

The Homeschool class provides a good starting point for almost any classroom. With online projects guiding students into every part of Camp Internet the homeschool class provides a cross section of learning resources and exams which weaves together all the various parts of Camp Internet.

New in the Homeschool course are a series of "web quests".

Goto and select any of the 5 current Web Quest quiz and research webs

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Where would you like to explore this week?
Camp Internet
Global Garden
Video Library & Broadcasting
Homeschool Campus
American History
ESL
Ocean Studies class Search the Camp web